The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for conducting electronic commerce, and more particularly to systems and method in which a payor pushes electronic credits to a payee using an Electronic Funds Transfer system.
Presently, there are several methods by which a consumer can electronically pay for purchases made on the Internet, such as credit cards, off-line debit cards, online debit cards, digital cash, and smart cards. Each of these methods has its own advantages and disadvantages. An off-line debit card uses the traditional credit card system for clearing the payment but no Personal Identification Number (PIN) is required. The use of an on-line debit card requires that the consumer supply his or her PIN, and the amount of the purchase is debited from the consumer""s account instantaneously. One disadvantage with both the on and off-line debit cards, from a consumer""s point of view, is the inability to reverse or repudiate the transaction. In contrast, by use of a credit card, the consumer at a later date can reverse the transaction (e.g., if the purchased goods are never shipped to the consumer).
It is predicted that credit cards will be the dominant on-line point of sale (POS) payment choice for at least the next five years. While new Internet payment mechanisms have been rapidly emerging, consumers and merchants have been happily conducting a growing volume of commerce using basic credit card functionality. None of the emerging efforts to date have gotten more than a toehold in the market place and momentum continues to build in favor of credit cards.
At the present time, there are several large market segments for an online payment system. First, high volume, low dollar payments from consumers to providers of on-line digital intellectual products or services such as written materials, music, software or games. These can either be xe2x80x98Intrapreneurs,xe2x80x99 individuals or small merchants marketing their products directly to consumers, or larger intermediaries, either traditional retail merchants or auction sites that aggregate consumers and sellers to facilitate sales. A second large market segment involves electronic payments from consumers to other consumers. A third and growing market segment resides in business to business electronic payments.
The market opportunity will continue to explode as what is currently thought of as the Internet continues to expand. In general, the Internet is thought of as Personal Computer (PC) and telephone based. However, that model is quickly changing to include broadband communication via terrestrial links such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), wireless and two-way cable. The end number of devices is also expanding to include cellular phones with video displays as well as interactive television, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and kiosks with Internet access. Both of these changes will only serve to increase the number of end points and consumers who will have a need for high-volume, low dollar payment capabilities.
Overall, retail consumer sales as well as business to business sales on the Internet are projected to grow exponentially. The bulk of the payments for these sales are expected to be done with credit cards, which are widely available and owned, are supported by an established infrastructure and provide merchants and consumers with a high degree of surety of payment and receipt. While there are clear differences in the ways in which consumers use credit cards, traditionally, consumers have used them for larger dollar purchases. In recent years, debit cards have entered the market and have been used as cash and check replacements, replacing lower-dollar volume transactions for purchases of consumable products such as food and gasoline.
Debit and credit card transactions are currently processed using the Electronic Funds Transfer EFT network. The debit message comprising the transaction is carried over the EFT network from the point of origination (e.g., a Point of Sale (POS) location, an ATM machine, or an Internet merchant) to the financial institution that issued the card (or its representative). Currently, only debit messages are carried by the EFT network, including debit reversal messages. A debit reversal message reverses a previously processed debit transaction and is generally not considered a credit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,501 to Lawlor, et al., describes a home banking and bill payment system that uses the EFT network. As described in the patent, the systems and methods of Lawlor performs a traditional debit pull from the user""s bank account using the EFT network and subsequently makes payments using conventional means such as the ACH network or paper checks. Furthermore, the system of Lawlor uses a centralized computer to which the user attaches via a dedicated phone connection as opposed to connecting through the Internet.
Although credit and debit cards have emerged as the most popular form of payment over the Internet, there are drawbacks associated with each of these payment types. Notably, each have a relatively high cost that includes a processing fee plus a merchant discount of 1.4% and up. The relatively high fees support the credit card business model. While credit and debit cards may continue to be a viable payment option for merchants selling relatively high ticket items over the Internet, credit and debit cards are not economically viable for purchases of lower cost items. For lower-cost items, the relatively high transaction processing fees plus the discount result in the transaction processing fee consuming a relatively high proportion of the total revenue generated by the product sale. These characteristics of a low cost item lend themselves to a low cost payments solution that is guaranteed, yet does not require the payee to bear the burden and risk of authentication.
The Internet is spawning a direct model in which manufacturers of products or services are able to deal directly with consumers. This model has several implications for the payment process. First, by eliminating the middleman, the direct model is resulting in intense price competition, with manufacturers having much tighter margins. This competition creates the need to minimize all costs especially payment processing costs. Second, the Internet enables the development of large numbers of independent producers to xe2x80x98set up shopxe2x80x99 on the Internet and immediately have access to large numbers of consumers. Third, a large and increasing number of intellectual products such as publications, music, video, software, games are more efficiently distributed digitally over the Internet rather than through traditional physical (paper or disc) media. While this trend has already started, as higher bandwidth and increasingly sophisticated devices enter the marketplace, it is expected to increase significantly. Many of these purchases will have the following characteristics: low cost to the consumer and the ability to purchase individual works (i.e.: a song, a video, an article, a game). These characteristics call for a payment form that has a low cost.
By combining these two trendsxe2x80x94direct merchant to consumer distribution from independent xe2x80x98intrapreneursxe2x80x99, and the ability to distribute products digitallyxe2x80x94a new marketplace has emerged for low dollar, high volume, real-time payments with payment surety for both consumers and producers. Larger intermediaries, such as existing on-line merchants and auction sites will also benefit from a low-cost payment device for high-volume, low-dollar payments for all of the same reasons outlined above. On-line merchants are currently-facing a variety of problems including a low volume of on-line purchases relative to the number of site viewers; a high volume of charge-backs for on-line purchases; non-integrated xe2x80x98patchworkxe2x80x99 systems for payment processing; high fraud rates and high processing fees. All of these factors serve to depress the potential number of customers who are comfortable purchasing on line as well as depressing the profitability of on-line merchants.
Furthermore, to date, there is no efficient way for consumers to make payments to other consumers using the Internet. All traditional forms of person-to-person exchange include the physical exchange of cash or checks rather than a real-time digital exchange of value. In addition, the high cost of retail wire transfers (i.e., Western Union) is cost prohibitive to a significant portion of society.
Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments have begun to be used with respect to payments made via the Internet. These types of transactions typically involve payments made with respect to loans, insurance and utilities. It is predicted that ACH payments will not be widely deployed to on-line POS for two reasons. First, an ACH transaction does not provide transaction authorization, and secondly, authentication requires a pre-existing relationship between the customer and the merchant. Furthermore, ACH payments have to be received, deposited and cleared before the funds are available. In contrast to ACH transactions, credit and off-line debit cards require authorization but not authentication. Similarly, on-line debit requires authentication (i.e., a PIN or other authentication). As with credit and debit card transactions, ACH transactions requires that the user provide the merchant (payee) with the xe2x80x9ckeysxe2x80x9d to the user""s account. This pull model of effectuating payments again raises the security concerns discussed herein (e.g., fraud).
Two significant drawbacks with some or all of the above models for Internet POS payments are that: 1) a pre-existing relationship between the consumer and the merchant must exist; and 2) the consumer is required to provide the merchant with his or her account and/or PIN. The first drawback of some of the above models cannot be practically overcome as it is impossible for a consumer to have pre-existing relationships with all of the potential merchants conducting business on the Internet. With respect to the provision of the consumer""s account and PIN number over the Internet, even though mail order companies have been operating in this manner for years, many consumers feel uneasy about electronically providing their account and PIN numbers to strangers over the Internet.
FIG. 1 depicts the conventional debit/credit transaction model. In this model, if the consumer 100 desires to buy a compact disc (CD) from a web retailer 110, the consumer 100 electronically transmits its debit or credit card number and/or PIN to the web retailer 110. Upon receipt of this information from the consumer 100, the retailer 110 submits the proposed transaction to its bank 120 or merchant acquirer via the EFT system (not shown) for approval. The merchant""s bank 120 then contacts the bank 130 (issuer bank) which issued the debit/credit card to the consumer 100. The issuer 130 checks the consumer""s balance on the card and either approves or rejects the proposed transaction. This approval or denial is transmitted from the issuer bank 130 back to the merchant bank 120 which then informs the web retailer 110 of the approval or denial. If the charge to the debit/credit card was approved, the transaction is completed by the web retailer 110 shipping the goods to the consumer 100.
Some of the same drawback described above with respect to Internet shopping equally apply to electronic bill payment. The first drawback, requiring a pre-existing relationship between the consumer and bill payee is not as great a concern because this relationship most likely already exists between the consumer and the payee (e.g., the telephone, cable or utility company). The second drawback which requires the consumer to provide the payee with his or her account and/or PIN still remains a concern with electronic bill payment. Although fraud is less of a problem for bill payment, since the consumer presumably has regular dealings with the payee, some consumers still view the provision of the payee with at least his/her account number a diminution in the consumer""s privacy.
The present invention represents a new paradigm for effectuating electronic payments that leverages existing platforms, conventional payment infrastructures and currently available web-based technology to enable e-commerce in both the virtual and physical marketplace. The concept provides a safe, sound, and secure method that allows users (consumers) to shop on the Internet, pay bills, and pay anyone virtually anywhere, all without the consumer having to share account number information with the payee. Merchants receive immediate payment confirmation through the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) network so they can ship their product with confidence that the payment has already been received. The present invention further enables small dollar financial transactions, allows for the creation of xe2x80x9cweb cashxe2x80x9d as well as provides facilities for customer service and record-keeping.
The structural components to the system of the present invention include: a Payment Portal Processor; a digital Wallet; an Internet Pay Anyone (IPA) Account; a Virtual Private Lockbox (VPL); an Account Reporter; the existing EFT networks; and a cash card. The Payment Portal Processor (PPP) is a software application that augments any Internet browser with e-commerce capability. The PPP software sits in front of and provides a secure portal for accessing (linking to) the user""s Demand Deposit Accounts (DDA) and IPA accounts. The PPP enables the user to push electronic credits from its DDA and IPA accounts to any other accounts through the EFT network.
Although the PPP can be used as a stand alone product, in a preferred embodiment, the functionality of the PPP is directly incorporated into a new form of PPP enhanced digital Wallet in order to enhance the consumer""s Internet shopping experience. Alternatively, hooks to the PPP can be incorporated into existing digital Wallets to add the unique payment feature of the PPP. Furthermore, features of online banking (e.g., funds transfers) can be incorporated into the PPP to allow for account maintenance and IPA account funding. In association with the traditional Wallet functionality and the Account Reporter of the present invention, the PPP is used to fund consumer""s accounts, shop on the web, pay bills, pay anyone, store electronic receipts and transaction history, and review the user""s recent account and shopping activity. The PPP thus provides consumers with a safe, secure, and convenient way to conduct financial transactions over the Internet.
The majority of the prior art electronic Wallets on the Internet today are primarily used as a convenience vehicle, merely providing a method of storing account number information and other form filling functions (e.g., shipping addresses). In contrast to traditional Wallets, the PPP enhanced Wallet of the present invention is associated with one or more DDA and/or IPA accounts. The PPP thus provides the user with a form of virtual cash that is secure and guaranteed. The PPP further contains a receipt feature and archive feature that maintains a transaction history of all payment activity with respect to accounts linked to the PPP. The PPP further has the capability to store miles, coupons, sweepstakes or other marketing incentives associated with use of the accounts linked to the PPP. The PPP enhanced Wallet enriches the consumer e-commerce experience by eliminating the tedious process of filling out lengthy payment and shipping fields as this is done automatically. Merchants significantly benefit from the credit push and form filling features of the PPP enhanced Wallet, since research indicates that most e-commerce purchases are abandoned at the POS due to consumers"" unwillingness to complete lengthy forms or provide personal credit card numbers. Furthermore, the automatic form filling features of the PPP enhanced Wallet reduces shipping errors, as the xe2x80x9cship toxe2x80x9d address is automatically filled in, eliminating manual entry errors.
The IPA account is a special purpose account with limited functionality for originating electronic payments. Funds in an IPA account can only be accessed electronically by the user of the account using standard authentication procedures (e.g., a PIN). The electronic access to the IPA account can be accomplished through a PC, card reader, PDA, Interactive TV and cell phone technology, for example. This restriction provides an added level of consumer protection in that the consumer never has to provide any of its account information to any strangers. The above described PPP (operated by the user) securely communicates with the IPA account to initiate payments according to the present invention. One essential feature of the present invention, completely contrary to the prior art, is that payments made from the IPA account are transmitted to the payee as a credit over the secure EFT network. As discussed above, only debit related transactions are currently initiated on the EFT system. The EFT credit message of the present invention thus represent a significant advancement in art which has no peers with respect to electronic commerce.
Similar to an IPA, the VPL is a limited function account. While an IPA can be accessed electronically, a VPL is constructed with a xe2x80x9creceive onlyxe2x80x9d functionality that enables a merchant (or any party) to receive electronic payments through the EFT. Therefore a VPL is a secure address that can be provided to the public as a means of receiving funds. These funds can then be automatically swept to either the user""s corresponding DDA or IPA account, preferably once a day. As will be further described below, there are several types of VPL accounts according to the present invention: one for consumers, one for merchants and one that is initially linked to a cash card as described below. The card VPL is a receive only account that can only be debited via the use of the cash card and a PIN. The consumer and merchant VPLs can similarly be PIN debited to access the funds in the account. Unlike an IPA account, the VPL account cannot be used for initiating EFT credit messages. In one embodiment of the present invention, the IPA and VPL accounts are logically one account with two addresses for account. One address, (the IPA address) is only known to the user (and its issuing institution) and is used to make payments from the account. The other address, the VPL address, is used to receive electronic credits and can be freely published without any fear of fraud.
The Account Reporter is a portal for consumers or business to view the balance and transaction history of an IPA or VPL account. In addition to the features described above intended for use with an IPA account, the Account Reporter includes special functionality intended for use by merchants in association with their VPL accounts. The Account Reporter provides online, real-time transaction reports, and reconciles accounts receivable/purchase records against incoming EFT payment records. In addition, the transaction history of the VPL can be archived and retrieved via a payment search engine in the Account Reporter. This provides the merchant with powerful data mining, customer service, and order fulfillment (warehouse, shipping, supply chain management) tools at their fingertips. Credit card purchases on the web according to prior art methods are not connected to a cash management program. In contrast to these prior art systems, the VPL, connected with the Account Reporter, offers a complete purchasing and cash management opportunity for a merchant. The VPL and Account Reporter combination provides a merchant with instant payment receipt verification, accounts receivable functionality, order fulfillment facilitation, inventory control/supply chain management facilitation and data mining capability.
The Account Reporter is a flexible component offering instant payment confirmation, reconciliation and record retention so that merchants can track purchase orders against actual payments in real time. Every VPL transaction can be stored, searched, and retrieved. This archival/retrieval functionality is the perfect instrument for customer service and data mining. The Account Reporter offers all of the above features, without the need to actively engage in funds management as is required with the prior art.
Using the structures described above, the methods of the present invention allow consumers and businesses to conduct secure and economical shopping on the Internet, to pay anyone online, pay anyone funds online, pay bills electronically online, and even use a linked cash card. The methods and structures of the present invention enable e-commerce in both the virtual and physical marketplace through the use of legacy platforms, the conventional payments infrastructure and currently available web-based technology.
The present invention furthermore solves many, if not all, of the problems of the prior art described above. Currently, all Internet transactions use xe2x80x9cpullxe2x80x9d technology in which a merchant must receive the consumer""s account number (and in some cases PIN number) in order to complete a payment. The payment methods of the present invention conversely use xe2x80x9cpushxe2x80x9d technology in which users (consumers or businesses) push an EFT credit from their IPA or DDA accounts to a merchant""s account, without having to provide their own sensitive account information.
The present invention provides an enhanced level of security because sensitive financial information is not carried over the Internet. All of the financial transactions are executed through the secure EFT network. This method of the present invention provides buyers and sellers with the comfort that their transactions are both secure and private. Furthermore, since payment confirmations are immediately received through the EFT network, sellers can rest assured that the buyer""s funds are xe2x80x9cgoodxe2x80x9d before the purchase transaction is completed (i.e., before the goods are released (shipped) to the consumer).
The present invention provides significant economic advantages over the prior art systems and methods. The majority of the technology required to implement the present invention already exists, which results in reduced startup costs for an institution practicing the present invention. Payments made according the present methods pass through a mature, established EFT switch which results in a low transaction cost. The payment mechanisms of the prior art are not optimal for processing small dollar transactions. However, the efficient, low cost architecture of the present invention supports payments of any size and is perfect for low dollar purchases. This architecture supports the growing need for Internet micro-payments for goods such as on line articles and music files, yet supports large value payments as well.
By the structures and methods of the present invention, the two most significant disadvantages of the prior art online shopping methods described above have been overcome. First of all, the buyer (consumer or business) is no longer providing its confidential financial information to strangers over the Internet. Rather, the buyer is dealing directly with its own trusted institution (in a preferred embodiment a bank). Furthermore, no pre-existing relationship has to exist between the customer and the merchant.
For the merchant, the present invention significantly reduces the transactional cost as compared to the use of credit cards. The method also provides a reduction in fraud and credit losses, while the finality of the transaction virtually eliminates dispute and chargeback processing from the viewpoint of the financial institution. For financial institutions, the present invention all but eliminates the potential of fraud that is inherent with credit card transactions. As consumers are typically only responsible for the first $50 of fraudulent transactions, banks typically absorb the sometimes significant costs associated with fraud. The ability for hackers to steal consumer""s account numbers (e.g., credit card numbers) from an Internet merchant is completely eliminated since the merchant never receives such information.
The present invention is not limited to the case of a consumer making purchases from Internet merchants or business to business transactions. The method has further, broader applicability by providing the ability for anyone with an account at an institution to transfer funds to anyone else who also has an account at the same or a different institution. The pay anyone feature of the present invention allows parties to electronically transmit funds instantaneously without the expense of today""s wiring fees.